


Reluctant To Love (At First)

by orphan_account



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Accidental Kissing, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-16
Updated: 2013-09-19
Packaged: 2017-12-26 18:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/968819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An accidental kiss while fight training opens Oliver's eyes to the potential of a relationship with Felicity. She, however, seems reluctant. At first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"First rule is ‘pay attention’." She rolled her eyes. He’d told her that before.

"To start, stand like this", Oliver instructed, taking his fighting stance and waiting for Felicity to match it.

"This will create an anchoring to the ground, that’ll make it hard for someone to throw you off balance."

He made sure her stance was correct, then pushed against her shoulder.

"Ow!", she exclaimed, surprised. But she didn’t move. "Hey. That’s pretty cool."

Oliver nodded. “Now I’m going to show you how to throw someone over your shoulder.” 

She laughed. “No”, she protested, shaking her head.

"You need to know how to-"

"Okay, but can’t I learn in a class? No offense, but I don’t really want to throw you over my shoulder."

Oliver sighed, long suffering. “Fine, let’s try another fight stance.” He placed his hand lightly on her side to move her abdomen, and was surprised when she started giggling. She was ticklish.

She reacted suddenly, twisting around and pushing back on his chest. He fell to the ground in surprise, even more surprised to find Felicity following him to the ground. She fell on top of him with an “oof” and her head landed on his shoulder.

He felt her body tighten up as she realized what happened. She raised her head to look at him, her eyes wide. His breath hitched at the spark he saw in her eyes, and before he knew what he was doing, his lips were meeting hers.

She melted in to it for just a second, an exhilarating second of connection, before pulling back and scrambling off of him.

"I’m so sorry!", she exclaimed, as she fumbled around for her purse and clothes. "I’m just going to-" 

Before Oliver could process what had happened, Felicity was up the stairs and out the door. He stood up in shock and raised his hand to his lips to ghost his fingers over the remains of their kiss.

 _Our first kiss_ , Oliver thought. He kicked himself internally for the thought, and the action that had caused it.  _I’m in so much trouble._

Oliver went home early that night, unable to get the thought of Felicity out of his head. He stripped off his clothes and made his way to the shower, trying to process the events of the evening.

There had been moments in the past when he'd noticed how beautiful Felicity was; how intelligent; how remarkable. He'd never considered anything more than a partnership with her though. His fixation with Laurel, in addition to the few other relationships he'd tried since being home, had occupied his mind and left him emotionally drained.

He turned on the shower, and let the water warm.

He didn't know why he'd kissed her. When he thought about it, is wasn't an actual choice. He just looked at her and had to kiss her, so he did. If he was honest, part of it was purely physical. He'd had her body, warm and soft, flush against him and the heat that passed between them was electric. The spark he'd seen flash in her eyes was a confirmation that she felt it to. 

She'd, of course, made comments about his looks before. She was well known for verbal gaffes. He never truly minded the remarks, and often took amusement in them and the blush that graced her cheeks afterwards.

He stepped into the warm shower water and let it wash over him.

The other part was... Well, it was comfort and honesty. Two things he got from Felicity that he didn't really get from anyone else. Digg was his brother-in-arms. He trusted him, with his life, but he wasn't there to be a comfort. Thea and his mother didn't know the truth about his life, what had happened to him on the island. Laurel didn't know either, and although Tommy did and had made peace with it, they were now happy together and Oliver didn't have any desire to bring either of them into the darkness.

Felicity though, she already lived there. He pulled her in without really thinking about it, and she'd adapted to it without losing her light. She filled the darkness with light, actually. She was a constant lightening presence to both Digg and himself. He couldn't imagine being The Hood without her. She was in his ear, and on his mind, on missions. She made him rethink his decision to shoot first, ask questions later, and he was grateful for it.

He sunk to the floor of the shower and curled his knees up to meet his head as it dropped.

He had kissed her and she'd run away.  _Maybe_ _I was wrong. Maybe she didn't want to kiss me._

He went to bed with a knot of worry in his stomach and an overwhelming desire to drive to Felicity's apartment. He resisted the urge, wanting to give her space and time to process all the things he had. She was important to him, and if she decided their kiss was a one time thing, he would respect that. He just hoped that she wouldn't.


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity was at her computer when he arrived the following evening. That was a relief. He’d convinced himself she would be avoiding him.

"Hey Felicity", he greeted her as he walked down the stairs and approached her.

She glanced back at him briefly, her face a mask free of emotion. “Hi. I’m running Steven Marks financials through a program that’ll detect any anomalies.”

"Great", Oliver nodded, pulling up a chair next to her. She tensed up and shifted her weight away from him.

His throat closed up and his stomach dropped. Accepting that she wasn’t interested in him romantically, he decided to apologize and tell her it wouldn’t be a problem for them.

"Felicity-", he started, but was cut off when Felicity started talking as well.

"I’m so sorry about last night, Oliver! I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, and I promise I won’t let it make things weird between us."

He blinked in surprise. Either he was confused, or she was.

"Felicity, I kissed  _you_.”

She looked at him incredulously, as though the thought was unimaginable. “What?”

Oliver smiled at her in relief, hopeful that this misunderstanding meant things between them might still develop.

"I kissed you. I mean, yes, you kissed me back for a moment, but I started it. I’m the one who should be sorry."

She processed what he was saying, and then turned back to her computer crestfallen.

"But I’m not!", he exclaimed, kicking himself for how his explanation was interpreted. He reached out and turned her chair towards him. "I’m not sorry, that is. I liked kissing you, Felicity. I- I wanted you to know that. If you don’t feel the same way, if you aren’t interested in me, that’s alright. We can pretend it never happ-"

He was cut off by Felicity lunging at him from her chair. Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.

He sighed into the warmth of her mouth, the softness of her lips. The kiss was anything but gentle though. Felicity was nearly in his lap, and the kiss was firm; almost a statement.

When she pulled back, Oliver was dazed. He blinked rapidly at the bright and eager smile she was giving him.

She ducked her head as a bright blush spread over her face. “Sorry”, she murmured. She looked up at him again. “So, what now?”

A wave of relief washed over him and he grinned. “Do you have plans for dinner?”


	3. Chapter 3

Felicity wrung her hands nervously as she waited for Oliver outside of her apartment building. She'd put down her hair, and curled the ends so that they fell softly down her back. She was wearing a loose pink dress, one of her favorites, and sandals. She wanted to look nice, but not too fancy. She didn't know where they were going on their date.  _Date_ , Felicity thought happily. It was still so unreal.

She look at the time on her phone, for the third time in 5 minutes. It was 7:06, meaning that Oliver was officially late.

 _Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe_ \- Felicity began to think, when she felt a hand on her back. She jumped and jerked around.

Oliver smiled softly at her. “You weren’t at your apartment.”

"I thought I’d wait for you here", she explained. "I didn’t see you go in."

"I didn’t", Oliver grinned. "Come with me." He took her hand, ignoring her silent questions, and lead her back into the apartment building.

Oliver hit the elevator button for the top floor, and Felicity wanted answers.

"Where are we going?" No answer. "Did you rent an apartment here!?" No answer. "I’m starting to think this whole date thing is just an elaborate plan to murder me."

Oliver chuckled. “We’re almost there. Bear with me.”

The bell dinged and the elevator doors opened. Oliver lead her out, still holding her hand. They went to the roof access door, and Oliver stopped.

"I hope you don’t mind", he told her. "I’ve been setting up since you agreed to dinner."

He pulled out a key and unlocked the door, then gestured for her to go first. She frowned at him, confused, but went through the door and up the couple steps until she was standing on the roof.

She inhaled sharply as her hand sprung up to cover her mouth.

A canopy had been set up with lights strung up the frame and into the roof of the canopy. Underneath it sat a table and chairs. Off to the side of the table was a cart with food, and a bottle of wine resting in an ice bucket.

She breathed out a laugh of shock and happiness, then turned around to face Oliver. He was watching her anxiously.

"What do you think?", he asked.

She smiled widely, and flung her arms around him. He laughed at her response and gently hugged her in return. He’d have to get used to Felicity showing him affection.  _I don’t think that’ll be a problem_ , he thought when she started to pull back and his first instinct was to hold her tighter.

She beamed up at him. “This is amazing”, she told him, turning to look back at the set up again. “You didn’t have to do all this though. I would have been happy with Big Belly Burger.”

He laughed outright at that, and shook his head. “Another time. Tonight, I wanted to do something special. It is our first date, after all.”

She hugged him again, snuggling her head against his chest. “I could get used to hearing that.”

"Hearing what?", he inquired, resting his cheek against her head.

"Date", she smiled into his chest.


End file.
